I can't see the instructional text in my slide layout

Cause: You can add instructional text to slide layouts in a presentation that was created in PowerPoint 2011, but the text won't appear if you open the presentation in PowerPoint 2004 or earlier.

Solution: Don't add or edit instructional text to slide layouts in PowerPoint 2011.

To make the presentation compatible with earlier versions of PowerPoint, don't add or edit instructional text to slide layouts.

See also
Create or change slide layouts
Add or remove placeholders from a slide layout